Can the Democracy Party Retain Power in Tonga?

January 26, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Mānoa Campus, Burns Hall 3121/25 (3rd floor) Add to Calendar

Dr Michael Horowitz
Visiting Scholar
Pacific Island Development Program
Coordinator of Inquiry Oceania

Since acceding to power in late December 2014, Tonga’s Democracy Party has confronted two insurgent actions: 1) a boisterous street demonstration organized by the Catholic Women’s League in May 2015 that eventually compelled the Government to renege on its pledge to ratify Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); and 2) a petition in late October by the former CEO of the Ministry of Education, ‘Emeli Pouvalu, calling for the dismissal of the current Minister and Acting Minister of Education appointed by the Government.

Both actions have tarnished the Government’s stature and threatened its ability to institute the sort of sweeping economic reforms on which its re-election in 2018 may depend.

The colloquium will assess the Democracy Party’s abiding influence and the various strategies being proposed to regain the party’s hegemony.

Dr Michael Horowitz is coordinator of Inquiry Oceania, an online research center regarding the Pacific Islands and division of ʻAtenisi Institute in the Kingdom of Tonga, where he is currently university dean. He holds postgraduate degrees from the New School in New York and Oregon’s College of Public Affairs at Portland State University. His articles on Pacific society and politics have been published in, among other journals, Sites, Journal of Pacific History, and Pacific Affairs.


Event Sponsor
East-West Center, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Dr. Michael Horowitz, (808) 944-7343, HorowitM@EastWestCenter.org, http://www.eastwestcenter.org/events/colloquium-can-the-democracy-party-retain-power-in-tonga

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